Nice comment you have given.

Just yesterday, I was walking along the stretch of nurseries along Thomson Road and I saw the another vine of the same plant growing on one of the fences surrounding the grounds of Candy Floriculture!

I think no one at present would have an answer for us as to how the Melothria pendula made its way to Singapore and become naturalised in this island state. I think even if someone had bought the seeds from overseas to grow, he or she could have done so due to novelty reasons.

I don’t think anyone would want to grow the vine, harvest its fruits and eat it for its laxative effects? Haha…

This plant is not a commercial crop, so I don’t think it was imported for food purposes, although online reports seem to indicate that the unripe green fruits are fairly tasty. There is one anecdote that describes the ripened fruits as foul-tasting. (See: http://maturehealth.wordpress.com/2008/08/25/caution-rancid-fruit/ )

It is indeed possible that Melothria pendula arrived here as a “stowaway” on imported plants. If it was brought in deliberately, could it be that it has some medicinal value (besides the reported laxative action of the fruits) ? Or was it taken into the country out of sheer collector’s curiosity ?

Guess what … just now I suddenly remembered that I had seen this plant before. That was in 2004 or 2005, along Jalan Anak Bukit (the stretch alongside Rifle Range Rd). One does not need sharp eyes to spot this though, because it was clambering all over the orange netting & roadworks plastic barricades placed on the grass verge beside the footpath. The mini “striped watermelons” and foliage made such a striking constrast against the orange background that I stopped for a closer look. I took some photos with my pocket camera as well, but they weren’t any good, since it was nearly 8pm & the only source of light was from the street lamps. Hmmm … the plant’s descendants could still be somewhere around the area.

(PS: Incidentally, I mentioned to Keneric recently that he has very good eyesight. Gary’s eyes are very sharp as well … once there was a group of us standing near the HortPark VC counter, when he suddenly announced, “That butterfly is very nice.” And we were like “Huh, where ???” It turned out that he was referring to a butterfly amongst the plants all the way across the Water Garden ! (Needless to say, none of us could see it.)

Nice to see you comment again. It was Keneric who spotted this vine amongst the wilderness. I am impressed with the sharpness of his eyes.

You are also resourceful as well. I haven’t come across the webpage you have given in your comment after all the search I have performed!

I cannot tell whether it is the same fence though from the pictures posted on the webpage.

I managed to fish out the paper in Taiwania that reported Melothria pendula as a newly naturalised plant on the island:

http://tai2.ntu.edu.tw/udth/bin/taiwania.exe/dl?id=289

Interesting note about escape from the farms nearby but why would anyone import this plant, for food uses? But it seems possible that this plant could have come as seeds or vines growing on plants being imported.

Wilson

Thanks for the note. It is located on the ‘wilder’ side of Singapore, very much neglected, forgotten and pretty overgrown as well. Because there are so many other vines around, one can easily omit this one!

Wilson

The Melothria genus is not mentioned in Hsuan Keng’s definitive ‘Concise Flora of Singapore’ (1990). So Melothria pendula is probably a relatively recent arrival. I won’t be surprised if the plant you saw is actually an escapee from one of the nearby farms.

As for the Asian region, there are academic papers dating back to 2001 describing how Melothria pendula was newly-naturalized in Taiwan during that time.

Have you seen this ?
http://www.natureloveyou.sg/Melothria%20pendula/Main.html

This guy spotted some Melothria pendula in Singapore on 20 Sep 08. Hmm … same fence ?

Fascinating post!